Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Long before Cincinatti’s King Records became the record label home of James Brown, the pioneering company was already releasing 78s by many of post-war’s gospel music’s finest artists. This fact has been largely hidden to today’s CD purchasers as little of the huge wealth of material recorded has ever been reissued. Now, thrillingly for all gospel connoisseurs, some of these riches are at last emerging onto CD thanks to the tireless work of reissue company extraordinary, Ace Records and we can but hope that the sales of ‘The Best Of King Gospel’ will be such that this stunning selection of raw, gutsy, hugely soulful music will be the first of many. The lineup here is truly mouth-watering: The Spirit Of Memphis Quartet, The Swan Silvertones, The Nightingales, The Trumpeteers. Each of these stunning quartets walked tall and proud on the Gospel Highway. Musical delights abound. Check out an old Don Reno country song, “I’m Using My Bible For A Roadmap”, transformed into a rollicking rhythmic delight by The Four Internes; bop along to the rapid fire rendition of Thomas A Dorsey’s “It’s A Highway To Heaven” by The Nightingales (later to become The Sensational Nightingales); feel the goosebumps with the down home field-song styling of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”; and possibly the most heart-stopping of all, the hand clapping, foot stomping piece of surrealism by The Spirit Of Memphis Quartet known as “The Atomic Telephone”. If you’ve drunk from the waters of contemporary Christian music and now feel invigorated enough to plunge into deeper waters, this is a brilliant place to start.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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